Broadleaf Tobacco Harvesting Time in Connecticut

[Peter Person]

Driving home from work tonight I took the scenic route through East Windsor and Ellington.
It's Tobacco harvesting time here in the Connecticut River Valley and out come the Farmalls for their once a year task. Must have been 30!

[Bob McCarty]

Peter, do they hang bundles of leaves on those racks to take to dry in a shed?

[Peter Person]

Bob,
Yes, they do.
This field is broadleaf, they take the whole plant.
The shadegrown variety is a gradual harvest of the lower, larger leaves, eventually getting up to near the top.

[Stanton]

How interesting. Didn't know they grew tobacco in CT. Looked to be quite an event.

[Peter Person]

https://connecticuthistory.org/windsor-tobacco-made-in-the-shade/

[ajhbike]

Yes, it is specific to those areas of CT and it was always neat to see the shade plants growing with their canopies. Used for the outer wrapping of cigars

[tinnerjohn]

How do they cut it? Looks like corn thats been cut with a sicklebar. I've always found the machines and methods used for various crops interesting. Corn,soybeans, wheat and oats and hay are simple, not much tobacco or cotton grown around here! Looks like a lot of manual labor involved in tobacco production.

[Don McCombs]

Peter,
It’s interesting that all the tractors have turned-down exhausts. Is that so they can get into the drying sheds?

[Peter Person]

How do they cut it? Looks like corn thats been cut with a sicklebar. I've always found the machines and methods used for various crops interesting. Corn,soybeans, wheat and oats and hay are simple, not much tobacco or cotton grown around here! Looks like a lot of manual labor involved in tobacco production.

Manual labor still. Haven’t seen any tobacco harvesters in CT.

[Peter Person]

Peter,
It’s interesting that all the tractors have turned-down exhausts. Is that so they can get into the drying sheds?

Both to clear the bottom beam in the sheds and to cultivate under the netting on the shade tobacco.

[Cub-Bud]

Portable toilet on the turn row....convenient

[SamsFarm]

Well.....

That is interesting! Probably the most interesting thing I have saw on here in a month or two!

I am not a tobacco user, but I often wondered if tobacco could be grown in the north!

I also wonder if the health risks of tobacco use are affected by whether the crop was organic or not!

Seems to me a organic smoke or chew would be safer without all the pesky chemicals!


Now we need to see the spring tobacco planting time!